Lesson 14b Homework Questions & Answers

1. How did 2019 ‘buck the recent trend’ of general elections? [p.68-69]
a. The elections from 2010 saw a coalition, a government with one of
the smallest post-war majorities, and a minority government. In
2019, the Conservatives secured the largest majority of a
government since 2001.

2. Why was the 2019 general election a great victory for the Conservatives
and an emphatic defeat for Labour? [p.69]
a. The Tories won the largest governing majority since 2001, and
received more votes than Blair had in 1997. However, Labour lost 59
seats and suffered its worst post-war general election performance.

3. What historical voting pattern changed in 2019? [p.70]

a. The Labour ‘red wall’ moved to the Conservatives. These were the
Labour-held seats across the Midlands and North, many of which had
been returning successive Labour Party MPs for generations.

4. How did diversity improve in the 2019 Parliament? [p.71]

a. It was the most diverse Parliament ever, as 34% of MPs are women –
a total of 220 MPs. Almost 10% of MPs (63) are now from ethnic
minority backgrounds.

5. Explain strength #1 of FPTP (that it is easy to understand and that results

are declared quickly) in the context of the 2019 election. [p.72]
a. Less than 24 hours after polls had closed, all of the UK’s
constituencies had declared their results. After only 14 hours, Boris
Johnson had visited the Queen to be formally invited to form a
government.

6. Explain strength #2 of FPTP (that it leads to effective relationships

between MPs and their constituencies) in the context of the 2019 election.
[p.72]
a. FPTP provides clarity on who each constituency MP is, and it is easy
for their constituents to hold them to account. In 2019 there were
many high profile casualties such as Dennis Skinner (Labour), Zac
Goldsmith (Conservative) and Jo Swinson (Lib Dem).
7. Explain strength #3 of FPTP (that it delivers decisive results and stable
governments) in the context of the 2019 election. [p.73-74]
a. This is arguably the most significant strength of FPTP as it allows the
winning party to immediately start to fulfil its manifesto
commitments. This led to uncertainty in 2010 as two parties were in
government, with conflicting manifestos in places. In 2019, within
hours of polls closing Johnson could legitimately claim that he had a
mandate to carry out the policies in his manifesto, due to his large
majority of 80.

8. Explain strength #4 of FPTP (that it supports a two-party system and keeps

out extremists) in the context of the 2019 election. [p.74]
a. Parties outside of the main two suffer at the hands of FPTP,
particularly the Lib Dems who would have had 75 seats instead of 11
if their vote share was translated to seats in 2019. The Brexit Party
won 2% of the national vote in 2019 but no seats instead of the 13%
they would have received proportionately. The two main parties won
87% of seats from a 76% share of the vote. This allows for both a
strong government and a strong opposition.

9. Explain weakness #1 of FPTP (that it is fundamentally undemocratic) in the

context of the 2019 election. [p.75-76, inc. box 9.5]
a. Many candidates in 2019 won their seats with significantly less than
50% of the vote, and 29 winning margins were under 1,000 votes.
FPTP requires the winner to receive only one more vote than any
other candidate – the narrowest majority was just 105.

10. Explain weakness #2 of FPTP (that it distorts voting values) in the

context of the 2019 election. [p.76, inc. table 9.4]
a. There are a large number of ‘wasted votes’ in FPTP – these are the
votes both for losing candidates and also those for winning
candidates beyond the required majority of 1. This can lead to
anomalies and accusations of an undemocratic system. In 2019, the
Conservatives received 38,264 votes for every seat won, whereas the
Lib Dems received 336,038 votes for every seat won.

11. Explain weakness #3 of FPTP (that it does not create a representative

assembly) in the context of the 2019 election. [p.76-77, inc. table 9.5]
 a. Under a proportional system, the Conservatives would have won 77
fewer seats in 2019, and the SNP 20 fewer seats. The major
beneficiaries would have been the Lib Dems (+59), Labour (+14), the
Greens (+11) and the Brexit Party (+10).

12. Explain weakness #4 of FPTP (that it results in safe seats and

uncompetitive election) in the context of the 2019 election. [p.77-78]
a. In safe seats, the same candidate is elected each time with an
enormous majority, so voters can feel put off voting as it would
appear unlikely to affect the result. There are almost 250 seats that
have not changed hands for more than 70 years.